"Michael Flynn - Falling Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flynn Michael)

heтАЩd been a kid.
тАЬPegasus is cutting back again,тАЭ Karen said as they left the secured area. тАЬI scread it on my daily
newsbot.тАЭ
Chase answered the question she hadnтАЩt asked. тАЬNo change in my schedule.тАЭ Not yet, at any rate.
Seniority counted for something and Chase was glad of it, even though he felt bad for the poor sap who
got left on the ground because he was low man on the pyramid. тАЬIтАЩm still down for an orbital cruise next
month, after my R and R.тАЭ
тАЬA month is a long time,тАЭ Karen said.
Chase looked at her eyes. тАЬWorried, hon?тАЭ
тАЬMy firm lost two medium-big accounts тАжтАЭ
тАЬThey dropped your firm?тАЭ
тАЬNo, the client closed up shop. Went on the block.тАЭ
He put his arm across her shoulders and hugged her to him. тАЬThis Dip wonтАЩt last long,тАЭ he said. тАЬThatтАЩs
what the experts are saying. There are all kinds of policies and stuff to deal with it.тАЭ
тАЬAnd stuff,тАЭ she said, giving him a little shove. тАЬWhoтАЩs the accountant here?тАЭ
Chase did a double take as they passed a newsprinter at the base of the escalator to the magrail. тАЬAw,
hell тАжтАЭ He left her and walked to the stand, where he hit then and reread the teaser
that had caught his eye. тАЬThey canтАЩt do that!тАЭ
Karen and Little Chase joined him. тАЬCanтАЩt do what?тАЭ she asked.
тАЬSays here theyтАЩre closing down the Space Academy for the rest of the semester. ItтАЩs funded by the lift
taxes, and with traffic cut back so much тАжтАЭ He swiped his key card through the reader to print the rest of
the article. Scuttlebutt you could get for free on the web, but copyright you had to pay. The scuttlebutt was
accurate more often than not, but this newsgroupie, Aleta Jackson, had a reputation for the inside skinny.
One more omen, he thought as he read the article on the maglev back to the Park тАЩnтАЩ Ride. He read it a
second time, but the news hadnтАЩt changed at all.

Three weeks later, Pegasus called a staff meeting at their Phoenix Operations Center. Technically, Chase
was on vacation, but the skinny said that to miss the meeting would be unwise, and Chase had never
made an issue of watching the clock, anyway.
He zipped up the red coveralls with the flying stallion logo and checked the hang in the bedroom mirror
with satisfaction. Still slim; still flat at thirty-four. He ran his hands down both sides of his head and felt the
stubble growing out. Time for another trim. He wore his hair longish in the center, but shaved on either
side. Rummaging in his jewelry box, he located a Jolly Roger ear stud, which he affixed in his right lobe;
then he pulled the red baseball тАЬgimmeтАЭ cap over his head, tilted it at a cocky angle, and smiled at his
reflection.
Someone had told him years ago that seeing a smile first thing in the morning helped you get through the
day, so you might as well look happy when you checked your reflection because chances were youтАЩd get
damn-few smiles from anyone else.
That wasnтАЩt true for him, of course, as Karen proved when he came into the kitchen. Teeth flashed bright
against a tan that a lifetime in Phoenix seemed to have made permanent, and a kiss too long to be the
perfunctory, old-married kind almost convinced him to ditch the meeting and spend the day in bed. Karen,
after all, telecommuted for an accounting firm and normally logged her time at home. How would the
partners know what she was banging in between banging the keyboard?
тАЬMy assets will be wasting all day,тАЭ he told her, releasing her at last.
тАЬWeтАЩll calculate your ROA tonight,тАЭ she promised.
Chase grinned. тАЬMy market share is rising already.тАЭ
Playfully, she swatted his arm. тАЬDonтАЩt get too jolly with it and invest it somewhere else.тАЭ
тАЬDirect deposit,тАЭ he vowed, тАЬI only do at home.тАЭ
It was an old routine between them. Sometimes they used the language of space flight, more often that of
accounting to talk of sex. So much so that Karen sometimes complained that she could no longer read a
corporate report without becoming aroused. Whereupon Chase had acquired several annual reports and

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